Flareless sleeve connector having forward contractible ring end portion and rearwardspring fingers



Oct. 27, 1953 G. v. OODLlN-G 2,657,077

FLARELESS SLEEVE CONNEC HAVING FORWARD CONTRACTABLEI RING END RS PORTIONAND REARWARD SPRING FINGE Original Filed June 20, 1947 FIG. 2

IN VEN TOR.

Patented Oct. 27, 1953 2,657,077 FLARELESS SLEEVE CONNECTOR HAVINGFORWARD CONTRA PORTION AND RE GERS CTIBLE RING END ARWARD SPRING FIN-George V. Woodling, Cleveland, Ohio Original application June 755,833.Divided and this 1949, Serial N 0. 98,468

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to tube couplings and more particularly to tubecouplings of the nonflare type having a contractible sleeve for engagingthe tube. This application is a division of my application Serial No.755,833, filed June 20, 1947 for Flareless Tube Coupling, now Patent No.2,472,872, issued June 14, 1949.

An object of my invention is to provide a first sealing engagement bypressing the end of the tube into a. tapered counterbore of a couplingbody and a second sealing engagement by pressing a contractible sleevebetween the tube and a tapered flared mouth leading outwardly toward theend of the coupling body from the tapered counterbore.

Another object of my invention is to provide, in a tube coupling of thenon-flare type, a connector body having a tapered counterbore towedgingly receive the end of the tube and a tapered flared mouth leadingoutwardly toward the end of the coupling body from the taperedcounterbore to receive a contractible sleeve mounted around and adaptedto be contracted against the tube.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a contractible sleevfor a non-flare coupling, in which the sleeve has a readily contractibleportion to grip the tube and a substantially noncontractible portion tolimit the degree that the contractible portion may grip the tube.

Another object of my invention is to provide a contractible sleeveconstructed of steel capable of being quench hardenable throughout itsentire mass and thereafter tempered or drawn back to a. hardness valuesufficient to permit the leading marginal end section to be cammed ordeflected inwardly against the tube but to prevent the section nextadjacent the leading marginal end section from contracting inwardly toprovide a hit home feeling to th tightening of the coupling nut.

Another object of my invention is the provision a non-flare couplinghaving a contractible sleeve which gives a hit home feeling to thetightening of the nut and yet permits the sleeve to be re-set upon eachrepeated assemblying of the coupling.

More specifically, an object of my invention is to provide, in a tubecoupling of the non-flare type, a contractible sleeve disposed to bepressed into an internal annular cam surface for making engagement witha tube as the nut of the coupling is tightened, the sleeve comprising acontinuous annular body constructed of steel capable of being quenchhardenable throughout its entire mass and thereafter tempered or drawnback to a 20, 1947, Serial No. application June 11,

hardness value greater than that of the tube and having a readilycontractible portion and a substantially noncontractible portion, bothof which portions being adapted to be pressed against the internalannular cam surface, the contractible and merging with the contractibleportion and resisting further inward contraction of the sleeve, theresisting action limiting the amount that the sleeve may be pressed intothe internal annular cam surface and thereby producing a hit homefeeling to the tightening of the nut.

Another object of my an abutment shoulder Another object of my inventionis to prevent the sleeve from shearing or plowing up an an at therearward end of the sleeve a plurality of contractible segmental fingerswhich are adapted to be contracted into gripping relation with the tubeas the nut is tightened.

Other objects and a fuller understanding or my invention may be had byreferring to the following description and claims, taken in combinationwith the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is an enlarged side view of a tube coupling embodying thefeatures of my invention, the upper part being shown in section toillustrate the relationship of the parts prior to the time that the nutis tightened;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary View of Figure 1 and shows the relationship ofthe parts after the nut is tightened; and

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 33 of Figure 2,and illustrates the dis- With reference to Figur 1 of the drawing, my

body 25 provided, with 2B which grip the tube when the inventioncomprises generally a coupling body I I, a coupling nut 12, and acontractible sleeve 13 adapted to contractibly engage a tube Hi.

The coupling body H is provided at its righthand end with male threads Mwhich are adapted to be threadably engaged by female threads l5 providedin the nut l2 for pressing the sleeve into engagement with the tube. Asillustrated, the coupling body H is provided with a first entrance flarel1 and a second entrance flare I8 to receive the tube. The secondentrance flare l8 comprises a counterbore having an annular tapered wallsection with a very small taper in the order of 1 or 2 degrees intowhich the end of the tube is wedgingly received to provide a tube sealwith the coupling body. The first entrance flare I! has an annulartapered wall section and extends outwardly toward the end 98 of thecoupling body from the counterbore 18. The taper of the first entranceflare l'i may be in the order of 10 to 12 degrees measuredwith respecttothe longitudinal axes of the tube.

The sleeve l3 comprises a continuous annular rearwardly extendingsegmental fingers nut I2 is tightened. The sleeve is constructed ofsteel capable of being quench hardenable throughout its entire mass andthereafter tempered or drawn back to a hardness value greater than thatof the tube. as 4140, heat treated throughout its entire mass andtempered to a hardness value of approximately to 50 Rockwell, issatisfactory for my sleeve. Experience shows that sleeves made of lowcarbon steel and surface hardened, for eX- cyanide potassium process areunsatisfactory, for the reason that such sleeves do not have asubstantially noncontractible portion to limit the extent the leadingedge may be deflected or cammed against the sleeve. The hit home feelingis absent in such sleeves and the operator is apt to cut the tube off orat least greatly deform the tube.

In the manufacture of the sleeve, the fingers 26 are provided by makingslots 21 in the rearward section thereof at annularly spaced intervalsthereab-out. In Figure 3, I show-four slots, but any other number maybeused. The continuous annular body 25 has a first or leading end 28 and asecond or rearward end 29. As illustrated, the end 29 constitutes theforward terminus for the slots 21. The continuous annular body 25 has areadily contractible ring end portion 23 and a substantiallynoncontractible ring body portion 24 separated by a groove 59. The wallsection of the sleeve under the groove is sufficiently thin to allow thecontractible ring end portion to be cammed inwardly and bite the tube10. The wall section under the groove may be regarded as an annularjuncture which integrally joins the ring end portion and the ring bodyportion with the thickness of the wall section under the groove beingless than that of the ring end portion. The contractible ring endportion 23 terminates in an outer annular cam surface arranged to engagethe first entrance flare H. The intermediate part of the entire sleeve,that is, the rearward end of the continuous annular body 25 and theforward end of the segmental fingers 26 is enlarged to provide a taperedor cam shoulder 36 against which a cam shoulder 31 of the nut engagesfor pressing the contractible ring end portion 23 of the sleeve into thefirst entrance flare l1 and for contracting the segmental fingers 26about the tube. In operation, as the sleeve is pressed forward ample, bya I find that steel known by the tightening of the nut, the outerannular cam surface 40 of the sleeve forcibly engages the tapered wallsection of the first entrance flare H and thereby produces a cammingaction which cams or deflects the contractible ring 'end portion 23 ofthe sleeve against the tube. The camming action embeds the leading end28 into the tube which resists longitudinal pull of the tube from thesleeve. Inasmuch as the end of the tube wedgingly fits within the secondentrance flare 18 which is of a very slow taper, the tube is permittedto move along with the sleeve as the leading end 28 becomes embeddedinto the tube. Thus, the end of the tube may move from point 2| topoint.22 of Figure 1 during the tightening of the nut, the point 2|being the place where the end of the tube becomes arrested when it ismanually inserted therein by the operator. The second entrance flare orcounterbore I8 is sufficiently long that the end 20 of the tube neverabuts against the shoulder i9 of the coupling body. Since the tube maymove with the sleeve, I prevent the sleeve from shearing or plowing upan annular ridge of appreciable size around the tube in advance of theleading end of the sleeve. The sleeve has a minimum or weakened wallthickness at the groove 59 which separates the readily-contractible ringend portion 23 and the substantially noncontractible ring body portion24, whereby a hinged action is produced so that the readily contractibleportion may be cammed or deflected, inwardly against the tubenotwithstanding the fact that the sleeve is constructed of a quenchhardenable steel having a high carbon content as distinguished from alow carbon steel. The Wall thickness of the sleeve, beginning at thegroove 59 gradually increases as advancement is made in a rearwarddirection toward the substantially noncontractible ring body portion 24where the wall thickness becomes a maximum. Both the readilycontractible portion 23 and the substantially noncontractible portion 24are disposed to be pressed against the internal annular cam surface ofthe first entrance flare I! in the order named, so that the readilycontractible portion 23 makes a first contact point against the firstentrance flare l! and the substantially non-contractible portion 24makes a second contact point at 60 against the first entrance flare H.The readily contractible portion 23 has at its forward internal end atube biting nose which is disposed generally radially inwardly from saidfirst contact point. As the sleeve is initially pressed into the firstentrance flare II, the tube biting nose of the readily contractibleportion 23 cams or deflects inwardly against the tube for gripping thetube against longitudinal pull from the coupling body 25. The distancebetween the first and second pointsv of contact multiplied by the sineof the angle which the first entrance flare ll makes with thlongitudinal axis of the tube is considerably less than the wall tubethickness, whereby the bore of the sleeve is forced into a taperedcondition to cause the tube biting nose to dig into the surface of thetube wall a distance considerably less than the thickness of th tubewall. As the sleeve is further pressed into the entrance flare H, thesubstantially noncontractible portion M resists further inwardcontraction of the sleeve, the resisting action limiting the amount thatthe sleeve may be pressed into the entrance flare IT, and therebyproducing a hit home feeling to the tightening of the nut. Thesubstantially noncontractible portion 24 of the sleeve prevents theleading end or contractible portion 23 from collapslng or inwardlybuckling the wall of the tube. As resistance to longitudinal pressingmovement of the sleeve is encountered, the cam shoulder 31 of the nutpresses against the cam shoulder 36 of the sleev and contracts thesegmental fingers 26 against the tube for giving support to the tubeagainst vibration. The fingers are disposed to spring back from the tubewhen the nut is released or disengaged.

The engagement of the sleeve against the tube and against the entranceflare I! provides the main seal against high fluid pressure, asdistinguished from the tube or secondary seal afforded by the end of thetube wedgingly fitting into th slow tapered bore I8. Notwithstanding thefact that the tube or secondary seal may allow the escape of fluid whichis blocked or sealed by the main seal, yet the tube or secondary sealacts as a buffer to dampen high peak transient fluid shocks fromeifectively reaching the main seal.

In my fitting, the tube and sleeve may be repeatedly disconnected fromand re-connected to the coupling body. Upon each re-connection thesleeve re-seats itself for sealing purposes as there is a certain amountof small give or yielding to the substantially noncontractible portionand the entrance flare H. The hit home feeling which the operator sensesupon the tightening of the nut for the initial installation or for therecoupling installations is definite enough to indicate to the operatorto cease attempting to turn the nut on any further.

Upon the surface 60 engaging the deflecting cam surface, the sleeveresists further contraction to limit the extent to which the leadingedge may be deflected or cammed against the tube. In other words, thatportion in advance of the groove 59 may be considered as the readilycontractible portion and that portion in rear of the groov may beconsidered as the substantially noncontractible portion.

The view of the drawing in Figure l is drawn about four times actualscale, and in Figures 2 and 3 about eight times scale. In actualpractice for a /zinch tube, the radial depth of the groove 59 isapproximately 15 thousandths of an inch, the maximum wall thickness atthe substantially noncontractible portion 24 is approximately 40thousandths of an inch, and the minimum wall thickness under the grooveis approximately 25 thousandths of an inch. For a /;-inch tube, a wallthickness of 40 thousandths of an inch at the ring body portion 24having a Rockwell value of approximately 45, is substantiallynoncontractibl whereas a wall thickness of 25 thousandths of an inch atthe leading end is contractiblei Another feature which marks the presentsleeves is the fact that they are constructed of steel capable of beingquench hardena'ble throughout their entire mass and thereafter temperedto a hardness value greater than that of the tube, taken in combinationwith the fact that the leading end section or the sleeves is physicallymade thin or weak nough to cam or deflect inwardly to grip the tube,notwithstanding the fact that the steel is hard and strong.

Although I have described my invention with a certain degree ofparticularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of thepreferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerouschanges in the details of construction and the combination andarrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from thespirit and the scope of th invention as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:

In a tube coupling having a cam member provided with an annular camsurface of a given angle relative to the axis thereof, a hardened andresilient sleeve substantially longitudinally noncompressible adapted tobe inserted over and contracted about the end of a tube having a givenwall thickness, said sleeve comprising a continuous annular body havinga first end and a second end with a substantially cylindrical boreextending therethrough to receive the tube, said sleeve having at apoint near said first end an external annular groove, the section of thesleeve in advanc of said external groove near said first endconstituting a readily contractible portion and the section in rear ofthe external groove constituting a substantially non-contractibleportion, said contractible and non-contractible portions contactablewith said internal annular cam surface at first and second points ofcontact, respectively, a tube biting portion on said contractibleportion of said sleeve disposed generally radially inwardly from saidfirst contact point, the distance between said points of contactmultiplied by the sine of said given angle being considerably less thansaid wall tube thickness,

' whereby said bore or said sleeve is forced into a tapered condition tocause said tube biting por tion to dig into the surface of the tube walla distance considerably less than the thickness of the tube wall.

GEORGE V. WOODLING.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,866,914 Stover July 12, 1932 2,179,127 Lauer Nov. 7, 19392,472,872 Woodling June 14, 1949 2,474,178 Wurzburger June 21, 19492,536,745 Herold Jan. 2, 1951

